US drone strike kills militant in Pakistan, officials say

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - The second US drone attack in two days in Pakistan's North Waziristan region killed four people on Thursday, including a senior militant commander with links to al Qaida, Pakistani intelligence officials and Taliban sources said.

Badar Mansoor, leader of a faction of the Pakistani Taliban with close ties to al Qaida, was one of the four killed in the strike in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, intelligence officials and Pakistani Taliban sources said.

"He was living in a small rented house with his wife and children in Miranshah. He, his wife and two other members of his family died on the spot," a Pakistani Taliban commander told Reuters. He declined to be identified.

Pakistani intelligence officials said the death toll could rise because buildings next to the one targeted were also damaged and people could have been there.